Then, on May 13, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the USA Freedom Act, which shut down parts of the Agency’s program and now requires the NSA to obtain a court order before collecting phone records.
The Patriot Act of 2001 was signed into law by former President George W. Bush in response to the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and allows the government to use previously established tools to monitor possible terrorists. But in 2013, former NSA contractor Edward Snowden exposed the true scope of the collection, leading to increased scrutiny of the program and more questions about Americans’ right to privacy.
June 2015
